StimPlan is adding something old (Acid Frac- design was for the correct (as opposed to estimated)

turing) and something new (After Closure Analysis, permeability, post-frac performance was: a) much
or ACA, for formation permeability) to the basic better, and b) matched design expectations. In fact,
the observed behavior where 20% of the wells made
functions of the package.
40% of the gas suggests that post-frac production
Permeability (from Fracturing Data?)
could have been doubled from the actual rates.
Formation permeability is the MAJOR variable for
This was probably not achievable. However, a
hydraulic fracture treatment design since this vari- post-frac analysis based on using the same overall
able determines Design Goals for a treatment. total proppant type/volume, showed that revised
That is, do we need a loooong fracture, or a short fracture designs could have increased the post-frac
fat fracture? As one example, consider the post- rates by 50% to 62 MMCFD an increase of 22
analysis of 15 treatments summarized in the figure. MMCFD. Permeability is a major design variable!
The treatments were conducted in wells covering
While one might recognize the importance of
7 fields and 3 formations, with formation permea- this, the fact remains that pre-frac flow tests and/or
bility ranging from 0.3 to 2.70 md. Five of the wells pre-frac pressure build-up tests can be quite time
had a pre-frac flow, and 3 of these 5 had a pre-frac consuming and often expensive. So, where do we
PBU test. All 15 treatments were placed exactly as get this critical data? The answer may come from
designed (following traditional mini-frac testing), in- the important work of Nolte [Nolte, K. G., Backcluding a predicted TSO (tip screenout) behavior in ground for After-Closure Analysis of Fracture Caliseveral of the treatments.
bration Tests, SPE 39407]. This analysis has been
Despite placing the treatments as designed, over- fully implemented in StimPlan Version 5.20, includall post-frac production was about the predicted ing detailed Flow Regime Identification plots as
rates. However, for the 5 wells with a pre-frac flow seen below along with Analysis Plots for deter(giving at least some idea of formation flow mining formation permeability to gas & oil.
capacity), post-frac rates were 95% of the predictions. For the 3 wells with real data, i.e., a prefrac PBU tests, actual post-frac rates were 102% of
the predicted rates. THAT IS, when the treatment
Predicted

20% of
Wells
Made
40% of
Gas

80
60

Potential

100

Actual

Initial On-Line Rate (MMCFD)

(1-Month Average)

StimPlan@nsitech.com
Phone: 1-918-496-2071
September, 2003

StimPlan Adds As After Closure & Acidizing

Coincidence ?

40
20

PreFrac

All 15
Wells

5 Wells 3 Wells
w/Pre-Frac w/PBU
Flow
Test

All 15 Wells
Potential

FIVE Functions! StimPlan is designed around a Five Function approach to fracture design.
These 5 functions, that should form the basis of any fracturing software, are:
Data Analysis including the ability to handle and analyze the multiple data types associated with
fracture design (logs, pre-frac well tests, fracturing pressure data and post-frac production data),
Fracture Geometry Model (while an important part, it is only one of the 5 essential functions),
Economic Analysis in order to determine what type of treatment is desired based on realistic data
and numerical fracture/reservoir/economic simulations,
Automatic Pump Schedule generation to eliminate wasted trial & error
data input to arrive at a final pump schedule, and
Acid Fracturing
Production Analysis (type curve analysis and numerical reservoir simulator
Research
production history matching) for post-frac oil/gas rate production analysis.
See Next Page
If you are interested in hosting/attending one of NSIs interactive user courses,
please contact us at StimPlan@nsitech.com.

StimPlan News

NSI

Tulsa/Houston

StimPlan / E-StimPlan Development Features & Plans

Development

Status

Build database files of Formation Types, properties, etc.

E-StimPlan Upgrade to Fully 3-D Geometry Model
3D Reservoir Production Simulation including Non-Darcy
Flow & Stress Dependent Permeability/Fracture kfw
Multiple Log Track Handling
Increase Modeling to 100 Geo-Mechanical Layers
E-StimPlan Completely Coupled Fracture Geometry/Reservoir Model including Poro- & Thermo-elasticity effects
E-StimPlan Acid Fracturing
Fracturing Pressure Decline Analysis for Permeability, k
(Pre-Closure, Ispas, et al and Post-Closure, Nolte, et al)
Extend ACA Using Type Curve Techniques
Upgrade k Analysis above by coupling to Frac Geometry
Model to Allow Time/Pressure Stiffness Variation
Expand Production Decline Analysis to Agarwal-Gardner

Version 5.00
Version 5.00
Version 5.10
Version 5.10
Version 5.20
Version 5.20
Version 5.20
ACA Nolte
Version 5.20
Beta

Fracture Acidizing
The oldest form of hydraulic fracturing is almost certainly
fracture acidizing. Despite this, acidizing has not been part of
the StimPlan package. With version 5.20, this is no longer the
case. StimPlan 5.20 introduces acid fracturing as part of the EStimPlan/E-StimPlan 3D simulation package. E-StimPlan was
chosen as the vehicle for this new model since it was felt
some of the simulation capabilities of E-StimPlan were of
critical importance to a rigorous simulation of acid fracturing.
Particular features considered in making this decision included:
Rigorous Fluid Flow Solution As the acid flows along a
fracture, acid reactions create an additional fracture width
(above the normal, hydraulic pressure, width). As this extra
width is created, it becomes easier for fluid to flow along
the wider path. Thus, more acid flows in that direction, creating more width, etc. This could be a major factor in acid
fracture design, and is not included in current acid fracture
simulations. For example, this rigorous flow simulation allows new design output such as the Acid Penetration plot
below. This shows that after about 30 minutes of pumping,
live acid penetration is beginning to lag behind fracture
penetration. Thus, additional pumping will create minimal
additional etched fracture length!
Penetration

Future
Future

2004

Multiple Zone Initiations Acid fracturing, more so than

propped hydraulic fracturing, uses limited entry techniques
for treating multiple, and/or long intervals. The E-StimPlan
solution implicitly includes a wellbore model to allow for
rigorous simulation of such cases. Future versions will also
include modeling of wellbore diversion.
Closure Stress Reduction When hydraulic pressure in a
hydraulic fracture returns to equal closure pressure, fracture width returns to 0 (ignoring any propped width of
course). However, when fluid pressure in an acid etched
fracture declines back to closure pressure, there will still be
some positive, etched width (as seen in the figure below).
Then,
as
fluid
pressure
further declines,
this acid etched
width closes
reducing stress
acting on the
fracture face (as
seen
below).
This could have
a significant impact on predicted
acid etched conductivity, particularly for very soluble formations
such
as
soft
chalks.

200

300

Pre-Closure
2004
2nd Qtr, 2004

NSI is proud to assist Professors

Dan Hill & Ding Zhu with the
creation of an important U. Texas Joint Industry Project. This
project aims at developing quantitative techniques for predicting
acid fracture kfw for individual
formations. Lack of such capability is the major weakness in
acid fracture design, and this
project will be a significant step.
Check NSIs web site
www.nsitech.com or our booth
at the SPE Annual Meeting in
Denver (October 2003) for more
information.

100

Pressure (psi)

400

Acid Penetration

Target

Acid-Fracturing
Conductivity

StimPlan
10

20

30
Time (min)

40

The most rigorous simulations around and SO MUCH MORE!